Brachycephalia – a Bastardisation of What Makes Cats Special
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Journal of Feline Medicine and Surgery (2009) 11, 889–890 EDITORIAL Brachycephalia – a bastardisation of what makes cats special Our consensus This issue of the Journal of Feline Medicine and hunt, kill prey, in turn avoid being killed by Surgery contains a superb paper by Claudia predators, reproduce and lead a vigorous is that the Schlueter and colleagues on the topographical athletic life. The result is a fit, elegant, lithe basic design anatomy of the nasolacrimal drainage system animal that should, if fed and housed properly, in brachycephalic cats.1 The authors, have few health issues and live a long life. of the a collaborative group from the University In contrast, severely brachycephalic cats are of Leipzig, Germany, the Freie Universität a bastardisation of all the things that make domestic cat is Berlin, Germany, and the University of cats special. They have a nasolacrimal system fundamentally Vienna, Austria, use a variety of that doesn’t work properly, so tears stream complementary techniques following injection down the front of their face causing staining sound. of contrast material into the tear ducts. and secondary dermatitis (Fig 1). It doesn’t Some techniques are traditional (anatomical help that they often have excessive folds of Why mess dissection and corrosion casting), while others skin that rub against the cornea. Their orbit with it? are new (helical computed is shallow, leading to tomography [CT] with exophthalmos, the tendency three-dimensional to exposure keratitis and constructs). These growth of corneal sequestra.2 meticulous studies show The tear film just can’t that the cranial skeletal stretch that far! Their teeth anatomy of the extreme erupt at such bizarre angles flat-faced ‘type’ is greatly that they cannot masticate distorted. As a consequence, properly; the resulting the tear ducts have a propensity for food to diabolically tortuous path, accumulate between the so much so that it is teeth leads to accelerated FIG 1 A typical Persian cat. Note the surprising any tears manage stenotic nares and epiphora. You can’t plaque formation and to drain into the nasal cavity hear the snoring, but it was present and periodontal disease. And if referable to an elongated soft palate. at all. Little wonder that This individual also had polycystic kidney you pull their canine teeth epiphora is so common in disease. It is by no means the worst out incorrectly, you will these flat-faced cats. example one of the authors (RM) has on file! damage that kinky Although the problem nasolacrimal duct. was obvious, this elegant investigation has But it doesn’t stop there. Stenotic nares, demonstrated just how severe the distorted stenotic nasal cavities (due to aberrant conformation of these cats’ heads has turbinates) and a soft palate that is too long become. The technology has delineated and for the length of the head cause upper airway emphasised the true extent of the problem. obstruction, stridulous breathing and As feline clinicians, what have we done to possibly obstructive sleep apnoea. Their brain stop this happening? The answer is, sadly, is crammed into the wrong-sized cranial not much! Isn’t it time we did more? vault, so conceivably we may soon be seeing The true value of this study is that it Budd Chiari-like malformations and defines irrefutably the severity of the problem syringomyelia, just like in Cavalier King and this, hopefully, will prompt action to Charles spaniels. To make matters even prevent such severe distortions in the future. worse, these cats have long coats that This group of editorialists – an opinionated generally require more work to keep in good Aussie vet, a thoughtful pommie vet and a condition than most owners can expend, so passionate cat lover – have a unified view. they tend to get knots and mats. In Australia, Our consensus is that the basic design of the they need ‘lion clips’ to keep their coat in domestic cat is fundamentally sound. Why check, especially in summer, and, believe it mess with it? As da Vinci said, ‘The smallest or not, ‘Brazilians’ have become popular to feline is a masterpiece.’ It’s a design that make sure they don’t get poo caught under Clinical Practice evolved through functionality. Cats needed to the tail! They are not as efficient at grooming JFMS CLINICAL PRACTICE 889 FIG 2 epiphenomena such as strabismus and Pseudomycetoma on the hindlimb of ` pendular nystagmus. This has been known a Persian cat since 1971 when it was characterised by Nobel with diffuse 6 dermatophytosis laureates Hubel and Wiesel – but have we due to Microsporum done anything about it? Do we need a canis. Such cats quantitative volumetric MRI study to show almost certainly have an inherited immune that breeding for the extreme wedge-shaped deficiency affecting head conformation has resulted in either innate or cell- mediated immunity microencephaly? There are still countries that permit Scottish Fold cats to be shown and bred – even though most of them develop variably FIG 3 Painful meningocele in severe arthritis for the whole of their life.7 a Manx cat with spina bifida and sacrococcygeal Similarly, Manx cats are prone to spina bifida dysgenesis. Radiographic and associated complications (Fig 3),8 which contrast medium (iohexol) has been injected into the may be irreparable or require surgical outpocketing of the meninges. intervention. Why would you deliberately Courtesy of Dr Anne Fawcett breed a cat that doesn’t have a tail – a structure so elegant and functional, and so ‘catty’? We applaud the authors of the current as normal cats, and this means they are more study, but remind readers that there is likely to suffer heavy flea burdens, and there absolutely no point having sophisticated are all sorts of adverse gastrointestinal diagnostics, like helical CT, if we are not sequelae that result from excessive ingestion prepared to complement these with common- of hair.3 Finally, they have some sort of defect sense recommendations about how to breed in innate or cell-mediated immunity that cats that might be expected to live a long, permits the ubiquitous dermatophyte happy and healthy life with minimum Microsporum canis to invade the dermis to recourse to veterinary interventions. produce disfiguring pseudomycetomas that are notoriously hard to cure (Fig 2).4 Richard Malik DVSc DipVetAn MVetClinStud We likely are preaching to the converted PhD FACVSc FASM because subscribers to this journal clearly care Centre for Veterinary Education, greatly for feline welfare. There is more than The University of Sydney, NSW 2006, Australia enough diversity in coat colour, coat length, E-mail: [email protected] size and personality in domestic moggies and Andy Sparkes BVetMed PhD DipECVIM the sound pedigree breeds. There is no need MRCVS whatsoever to perpetuate the breeding of The Animal Health Trust, Kentford, bizarre mutant cats that could not exist without Newmarket CB8 7UU, UK veterinary interventions. We don’t want to go E-mail: [email protected] down the path of the canine world, where Claire Bessant BSc extreme types (the bulldog, for example) Chief Executive, Feline Advisory Bureau, continue to be bred despite obvious defects that Taeselbury, High Street, Tisbury, Wiltshire, UK greatly compromise their health and longevity.5 E-mail: [email protected] Plainly, it would be nothing less than cruel. The solution is obvious: ban the breeding of these extreme brachycephalic types. Some have References even been so bold as to suggest banning 1 Schlueter C, Budras KD, Ludewig E, et al. Brachycephalic feline noses. Persian and Exotic shorthairs entirely! CT and anatomical study of the relationship between head conformation What would be the best way to achieve this and the nasolacrimal drainage system. J Feline Med Surg 2009; 11: 891–900. end? For sure, we have to change the breed 2 Featherstone HJ, Sansom J. Feline corneal sequestra: a review of 64 cases standards. Now. Not next year. Perhaps we (80 eyes) from 1993 to 2000. Vet Ophthalmol 2004; 7: 213–27. need to enlist the help of organisations such 3 Barrs VB, Beatty JA, Tisdall PLC, et al. Intestinal obstruction by trichobezoars as the RSPCA to press cruelty charges on the in five cats. J Feline Med Surg 1999; 1: 199–207. breeders of these cats – there is no doubt in 4 Bond R, Pocknell AM, Toze CE. Pseudomycetoma caused by Microsporum canis our minds that many of these cats will have in a Persian cat: lack of response to oral terbinafine. J Small Anim Pract 2008; 42: an unhappy life without reconstructive 557–60. surgery and ongoing veterinary interventions. 5 Malik R. Genetic diseases of cats. J Feline Med Surg 2002; 3: 39–44. Our misgivings are not restricted to these 6 Hubel DH, Wiesel TN. Aberrant visual projections in the Siamese cat. J Physiol two breeds. We are concerned, too, about 1971; 218: 33–62. Siamese and Oriental cats. A reasonable 7 Malik R, Allan GS, Howlett CR, et al. Osteochondrodysplasia in Scottish Fold proportion of Siamese-style cats have cats. Aust Vet J 1999; 77: 85–92. congenital wiring faults in their visual neural 8 DeForest ME, Basrur PK. Malformations and the Manx syndrome in cats. pathways causing absent stereopsis with Can Vet J 1979; 20: 304–11. 890 JFMS CLINICAL PRACTICE.